Triangle Community Foundation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Triangle Community Foundation
In February 2000, Triangle Community Foundation (TCF) director of Philanthropic Services Tony Pipa presented the foundation's new mission statement and its internal ramifications to the staff. It had been over two years since TCF's board had mandated that donors, not nonprofit organizations, were the foundation's primary customers. Executive Director Shannon St. John, Pipa, and other members of the management team had met for months and wrestled with fundamental questions around the definition of philanthropy, how to achieve meaningful, long-term impact, and the foundation's role in the communities it served. They were excited about the progress they had made but knew that many questions still remained, and they expected some resistance to their proposals. Much of the staff had come to TCF from nonprofit, community-based organizations and spent much of their time working with the nonprofit sector. They were not sure what this new focus on donors as customers meant for their work, nor were they comfortable with not considering the nonprofit community their customers.
Swot Analysis of "Triangle Community Foundation" written by J. Gregory Dees, Beth Anderson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Foundation's Pipa facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Triangle Community Foundation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Ethics, Motivating people, Social enterprise, Strategy execution and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Triangle Community Foundation casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Triangle Community Foundation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Triangle Community Foundation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Foundation's Pipa, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Foundation's Pipa operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Triangle Community Foundation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Triangle Community Foundation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Foundation's Pipa
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Foundation's Pipa
Strengths Triangle Community Foundation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Foundation's Pipa in Triangle Community Foundation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Foundation's Pipa is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Triangle Community Foundation are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Foundation's Pipa is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by J. Gregory Dees, Beth Anderson can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Foundation's Pipa has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Foundation's Pipa has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Triangle Community Foundation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Foundation's Pipa to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Foundation's Pipa to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Foundation's Pipa has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Foundation's Pipa is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Triangle Community Foundation case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Innovation driven organization
– Foundation's Pipa is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Triangle Community Foundation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Foundation's Pipa has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Foundation's Pipa to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Foundation's Pipa has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Triangle Community Foundation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Foundation's Pipa digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Foundation's Pipa has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Triangle Community Foundation Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Foundation's Pipa in the sector have low bargaining power. Triangle Community Foundation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Foundation's Pipa to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Triangle Community Foundation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Triangle Community Foundation are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Foundation's Pipa products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Foundation's Pipa needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Foundation's Pipa, firm in the HBR case study Triangle Community Foundation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Triangle Community Foundation has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Foundation's Pipa 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Triangle Community Foundation, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Triangle Community Foundation HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Foundation's Pipa has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Foundation's Pipa has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Triangle Community Foundation, it seems that the employees of Foundation's Pipa don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Triangle Community Foundation HBR case study mentions - Foundation's Pipa takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Triangle Community Foundation, is just above the industry average. Foundation's Pipa needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Foundation's Pipa is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Foundation's Pipa needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Foundation's Pipa to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Triangle Community Foundation, in the dynamic environment Foundation's Pipa has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Foundation's Pipa has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Triangle Community Foundation | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Triangle Community Foundation are -
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Foundation's Pipa can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Foundation's Pipa can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Foundation's Pipa can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Foundation's Pipa can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Foundation's Pipa operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Foundation's Pipa in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Buying journey improvements
– Foundation's Pipa can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Triangle Community Foundation suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Developing new processes and practices
– Foundation's Pipa can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Foundation's Pipa has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Foundation's Pipa to increase its market reach. Foundation's Pipa will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Foundation's Pipa can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Strategy & Execution segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Foundation's Pipa can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Foundation's Pipa can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Foundation's Pipa in the consumer business. Now Foundation's Pipa can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Foundation's Pipa has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Triangle Community Foundation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Foundation's Pipa to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Triangle Community Foundation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Triangle Community Foundation are -
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Foundation's Pipa business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Foundation's Pipa
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Foundation's Pipa.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Foundation's Pipa in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Foundation's Pipa is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Foundation's Pipa can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Triangle Community Foundation .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Foundation's Pipa can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Foundation's Pipa has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Foundation's Pipa needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Foundation's Pipa demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Foundation's Pipa with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Foundation's Pipa will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Foundation's Pipa high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Triangle Community Foundation Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Triangle Community Foundation needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Triangle Community Foundation is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Triangle Community Foundation is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Triangle Community Foundation is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Foundation's Pipa needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
